A Profile of Disability in Ohio
Measuring Disability in the Census
Disability Status Under the conceptual framework of disability described by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), disability is defined as the product of interactions among individuals’ bodies; their physical, emotional, and mental health; and the physical and social environment in which they live, work, or play. Disability exists where this interaction results in limitations of activities and restrictions to full participation at school, at work, at home, or in the community. For example, disability may exist where a child has difficulty learning because the school cannot accommodate the child’s deafness.
Furthermore, disability is a dynamic concept that changes over time as one’s health improves or declines, as technology advances, and as social structures adapt. As such, disability is a continuum in which the degree of difficulty may also increase or decrease. Because disability exists along a continuum, various cut-offs are used to allow for a simpler understanding of the concept, the most common of which is the dichotomous “With a disability”/“no disability” categorization.
Measuring this complex concept of disability with a short set of six questions is difficult. Because of the multitude of possible functional limitations that may present as disabilities, and in the absence of information on external factors that influence disability, surveys like the ACS are limited to capturing difficulty with only selected activities. Thus, people identified by the ACS as having a disability are those who report difficulty with specific functions, and may, in the absence of accommodation, have a disability. While this definition is different from the one described by the IOM and ICF conceptual frameworks, it relates to the programmatic definitions used in most Federal and state legislation.
In an attempt to capture a variety of characteristics that encompass the definition of disability, the ACS identifies serious difficulty with four basic areas of functioning – hearing, vision, cognition, and ambulation. These functional limitations are supplemented by questions about difficulties with selected activities from the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales, namely difficulty bathing and dressing, and difficulty performing errands such as shopping. Overall, the ACS
Disability Characteristics
Ohio ranks 18th in terms of the percent of the total population with a disability (13.9%). The 2017-2021 data show 14.1% of female Ohioans with a disability versus a slightly smaller 13.7% of male Ohioans. In terms of age-groups, 47.2% of Ohioans ages 75 or older report a disability, followed by 24.3% of Ohioans 65-74 years of age, 14.1% of Ohioans 35-64 years of age, 8.0% of Ohioans 18-34 years of age, 6.7% of Ohioans 5-17 years of age, and 0.6% of Ohioans under 5 years of age.
What about Ohio’s counties?
Pike county leads with an estimated 23.9% of its population living with a disability, with Holmes bringing up the rear with 7.6%. A simple map of disability rates per county shows Appalachia faring worse than the rest of the state, as expected.
By Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Does the prevalence of disability vary by Race/Ethnicity?
Indeed it does, with American Indian and Alaska Native Ohioans faring the worst (24.0% are estimated to have a disability), followed by Black or African-American Ohioans (15.1%). Asian Ohioans are the least likely to have a disability (5.9%).
| Race/Ethnicity | % with a Disability |
|---|---|
| American Indian and Alaska Native Alone | 24.0 |
| Black or African-American Alone | 15.1 |
| Non-Hispanic White | 14.1 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone | 11.8 |
| Hispanic | 11.5 |
| Asian Alone | 5.9 |
And for the counties?
Prevalence of Specific Difficulties
Hearing Difficulties at the State-level
Hearing Difficulties at the County-level
Hearing Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Vision Difficulty at the State-level
Vision Difficulty at the County-level
Vision Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Cognitive Difficulty at the State-level
Cognitive Difficulty at the County-level
Cognitive Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Ambulatory Difficulty at the State-level
Ambulatory Difficulty at the County-level
Ambulatory Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Self-care Difficulty at the State-level
Self-care Difficulty at the County-level
Self-care Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Independent Living Difficulty at the State-level
Independent Living Difficulty at the County-level
Independent Living Difficulty in Appalachia vs Rest of Ohio
Health Insurance Status at the State-level
When it comes to insurance status of those with a disability, Ohio does well in comparison to other states. Specifically, 4.2% of Ohioans with a disability lack health insurance, versus Oklahoma with 11.4% (the worst) and Massachusetts with 1.7% (the best). However, these aggregate estimates mask significant variation across age-groups: 3.5% of Ohioans under 19 years of age and with a disability lack health insurance versus 7.3% of 19-64 year-old Ohioans with a disability.
Health Insurance Status at the County-level
Appalachia versus Rest of Ohio
Median Earnings
Median earnings (in 2021 inflation-adjusted dollars) of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population ages 16 and over with a disability during the previous 12 months from 2017-2021 are tabulated below, first for states and then for counties.
And then the same earnings but for the counties.
Receipt of Food Stamps/SNAP
Of the 4,754,161 households in Ohio, some 12.4% (587,542 households) receive Food Stamps/SNAP, and 50.8% of the households that receive Food Stamps/SNAP have one or more persons with a disability. As a comparison, consider that only 23.5% of households that do not receive Food Stamps/SNAP have one or more persons with a disability.
And then for the counties.
What about Appalachia versus the Rest of Ohio?
Poverty Status of Disabled Ohioans
Some 28.7% of Ohioans 20-64 years of age and living in poverty have a disability, versus 10.3% of similarly aged Ohioans with incomes at or above the poverty line.
And next for the counties.
What about Appalachia?
Age and Number of Disabilities
And next for the counties.
And, for the last time, what about Appalachia?